India Investment Property » State Bank Of India

Home loan sales reviving

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:44:05 +0000

Bankers believe their strained home loan portfolios will see relief in the coming quarters, with interest rate cuts coming into force.
“We expect our home loan offtake to increase by 22 per cent y-o-y next quarter with the fall in interest rates,” said B.R. Pai, General Manager, Syndicate Bank. The bank, which has sixty-five hundred crore rupees home loan portfolio, saw a slower 18% y-o-y growth in home loans disbursed last quarter, as compared to a 30% growth for the same quarter last year.
Home loans will become cheaper as most public sector banks, including State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank among others, have cut their benchmark prime lending rates (BPLR) by 75 basis points. Bankers are betting on buyers who had earlier postponed their purchases owing to a high interest rates to come on board.
Kumar Gera, chairman of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai), said there is a pent up demand for residential property that will lead to a demand uptake once liquidity returns.

Trump Jr. Plans $1 Billion Fund for India Property Acquisitions

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:29:08 +0000

Donald Trump Jr., whose father built a multi-billion dollar fortune in real estate, plans to set up a fund of as much as $1 billion to buy property in India, betting on the nation’s economic growth.
New York-based Trump Organization Inc. also plans a residential and hotel project in Mumbai with a local partner to tap the growing wealth of middle- and higher-income Indians. The city is India’s biggest trading center for stocks, bonds, commodities, diamonds and gold, and home to some of the country’s largest companies including Reliance Industries Ltd. and State Bank of India.
Trump said, “Our entry has to be in Mumbai and that’s where everything is going on right now in terms of the high-end real estate”. Further he said, “That’s the place where one is going to achieve the highest prices per square foot. It sets the tone for all of the other future developments”.
India’s $912 billion economy grew an average 8.8% since 2004 and is forecast to expand as much as 8.5% in the year to March 31, according to the central bank.

SBI Recovers Two Thousand Crore Rupees’ Bad Loan

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:53:04 +0000

State Bank of India is likely to report an improvement in its asset quality when it presents its first quarter results. According to top SBI sources, the bank has recovered bad loans worth around two thousand crore rupees during April-June 2008.

Top SBI executives, when contacted, refused to comment. SBI managing director S K Bhattacharya said, “We can’t divulge details before the first quarter results announcement”.

SBI’s credit quality had deteriorated during 2007-08, as it booked fresh bad loans worth Rs 2,700 crore, mainly on account of retail loans, and to some extent, mid-sized corporate loans. As on March 31, 2008, the bank had gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Rs 12,837 crore compared with Rs 9,998 crore, a year back.

On the other hand, the bank is slated to make a provision of around Rs 1,000 crore against mark-to-market (MTM) losses of its investment. Out of this sum, around seven hundred crore rupees is expected to be provided for against depreciation of bonds the bank received from the government on account of its rights issue.

Banks are booking MTM losses against depreciation of bonds and equity investments during April-June 2008 period. Nevertheless, SBI is expected to clock double-digit growth in the first quarter to June 30, 2008 over the corresponding period a year back. This is despite the fact that demand for loans from sectors like commercial real estate and auto has slowed down.

Coming back to SBI’s bad loan management, government’s debt waiver-cum relief scheme would help SBI reduce its bad loans by another Rs 2,000 crore. SBI has waived overdues of around 25 lakh farmers, aggregating about Rs 7,000 crore. “It’s estimated that around 30% of the total waived sum had become NPAs,” another SBI insider indicated. Gross NPA stood at 3.04% as on March 31, 2008 while the net NPA stood at 1.78%.

British Midland Expecting Forty Investors In Next 3 Years

admin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:58:48 +0000

British Midland, a UK government-funded organisation, dedicated to attracting international businesses to the region comprising East Midlands and West Midlands, is eyeing around 40 investors from India across various sectors in the next three years.

East Midlands Development Agency’s Director David Wallace said,”We are looking at investors especially in sectors such as automotive, aero-space, transport technology and IT among others,” .

It is more advisable to invest in Midland rather than in London as property prices are lesser by 50 % and labour costs are lesser by 25 % than London, he said.

Moreover, the manufacturing base has all international operations besides availability of skill-sets, he said.

Commenting on China, he said that significant investments were not expected from the country in the region in the next three to four years, although it is considered as an important destination. “Our focus on China has been more on trade and business than on investment into our region,” he said.

Some important Indian companies that have invested in the British Midlands are Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Brunton Shaw UK Limited among others, he said.

“Signs of a slight slowdown in decision-making in investments will be witnessed in the coming years due to the US recession and credit crunch,” he said.

It would be a global phenomenon as investors would be careful about investing, he added.

Kerala Properties On Offer At Qatar Show

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:42:02 +0000

A lot of township development projects and designs of residential complexes in Kerala were displayed at a property show in Qatar which aimed at attracting investments from NRIs.

Kerala Property Expo in Doha is featuring about 50 builders. The show organized by the Kerala Builders Forum (KBF), is sponsored by HDFC bank and State Bank of India.

Mr. V Raveendran,Executive Director, KBF, said, “Kerala gives good investment opportunities now. Earlier stress was given to the tourism industry. But now it has shifted more or less to the IT sector. A number of IT parks are coming up in major cities of Kerala, resulting in increase in population density here”.

The real estate industry in Kerala has off late witnessed an upward trend with about 70% of properties being sold to buyers in the Gulf region.

KBF is the organization of 75 builders and real estate companies of Kerala. It is affiliated to the CREDAI.

Realty stocks gain ground

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:49:06 +0000

Realty stocks, which opened on a subdued note this morning, are among the prominent gainers in afternoon trade. Mirroring investor interest for these stocks, the BSE Realty index has spurted 3.7% now. Sector heavyweight DLF has gained nearly 7% at Rs 715.

Unitech, a Nifty component, has posted a gain of 4.6%. Penland, HDIL, Sobha Developers, Ansal Infrastructure, Omaxe, Parsvnath Developers and Mahindra Lifespace have gained 2.5% – 4.5%. India Bulls Real Estate has gained 1.5% at Rs 548.90. Anant Raj Industries is up with a modest gain of 0.65% at Rs 298.

Hindalco has jumped by 5.8% to Rs 197. HDFC has come off its high of Rs 2881, but at Rs 2846, still remains high up in the positive territory with an impressive gain of 4.65%. Jaiprakash Associates is up with a gain of 4.25%.

Satyam Computer Services, which zoomed to Rs 486.90 this afternoon, is up with a handsome gain of 7.75% despite having eased a bit to Rs 477.15. Infosys Technologies has notched up 4.4%. Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services are up by around 4.25% and 3.5% respectively. A host of other stocks from the IT space have also recorded handsome gains.

Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Grasim Industries are up by 2% – 3%. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Energy, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Ambuja Cements, NTPC and ACC have also moved up sharply.

Out of 2663 stocks seen in action on BSE, 1546 stocks are up in the positive territory. 1058 stocks have posted losses and 59 stocks trade flat.

FM Sensitises Banks For Cheaper Home Loans

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:04:01 +0000

A day after public sector banks led by State Bank of India cut interest rates; Finance Minister P Chidambaram raised hopes of another round of cuts. It is known that in last month bankers waited before acting on Chidambaram’s suggestion. This time they appeared more cooperative, saying there was scope for fresh cuts. During a pre-budget meeting with state bank chiefs on Tuesday, the Finance Minister marked housing and consumer goods sectors as part of his overall thrust to ensure adequate credit flow. The two sectors have been hit due to the credit squeeze enforced by Reserve Bank of India over the last 12 months to ensure that inflation stays within limits.
Mr. Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting where he also reviewed the performance of public sector banks during the first three quarters, “Consciously, over a period of a year, there has been a slowing down of credit growth. However, this slowing down of credit has indeed, to some extent, affected flow of credit to the housing sector and consumer durables sector,” He said that the banks have been advised to pay attention to the requirements of credit in these sectors.
While explaining that the government does not give directions to banks, the minister said that the Centre was only trying to sensitize banks to the demands of the consuming public and the prevailing situation. Further he added, “Banks should respond to the situation”.